5 things we learned from the Premier League this weekend

Loosing to 4-1 to Manchester City and being out played is one thing, but losing 4-1 and being totally humiliated is another. From the first minute Manchester Utd looked flat – it is the manager’s job to have the team ready, and they were far from it. The woeful Ashley Young continues to be in the team ahead of Nani and Zaha, and quite frankly he was appalling, if he continues to hold a place in the starting eleven serious questions will have to be asked.

Other questions from Sundays performance that need addressing are – with Manchester United being completely outplayed in the midfield after twenty minutes, why wait until after the start of the second half to change the formation? Why was Jesus Navas allowed to run three quarters of the pitch without a single Manchester Utd player attempting to make a challenge? Why have they failed to score a single goal from open play since the first game of the season? How was Manchester United so tactically inadequate? And is Mr Moyes up to the job?

Was Liverpool’s good early season form just a flash in the pan?

At the start of every season a couple of teams win games they shouldn’t win, punch above their fighting weight and find themselves at the top of the league. Liverpool has done just that, for the first three games of the new season they were sublime, playing with the silky skills and panache of the Liverpool of old. But after losing 1-0 to Southampton at Anfield, are they beginning to revert back to the Liverpool of last season – with inconsistent results, bad defensive displays and hold a permanent fixture outside the top five in the league?

Can Arsenal stay on top of the league?

So Arsenal signed Mesut Ozil, but is that enough? Well he can pass the ball, take a great corner kick and set up numerous scoring chances, but when the defense leaks like a sieve, manager Arsene Wenger will need to dip into his vastly under used transfer fund and sign a couple of central defenders. Maybe then Arsenal will have a chance to fight for a place at the top.

Is Manchester City that good?

When Yaya Toure is playing well, then yes they are. Against Manchester United Toure was incredible, he conducted the team’s movement and tempo from midfield, out muscled, and out thought and out maneuvered everything the Utd players threw out him.

He is one of those players who can change the outcome of any game, be it with a pass, free kick or a moment of pure skill. Without him Manchester City would not command the midfield like they do against so many teams. As to whether Manchester City are that good, for now the jury remains undecided.

For Everton, it’s the Leighton Baines show.

One can only marvel at the sheer skill and audacity that is a Leighton Baines free kick. Easily one of the best and cleanest strikers of a dead ball in the Premier League, he did not disappoint against West Ham with two phenomenal goals from a free kick just outside the box.

The first sailed into the top left hand corner, with such precision an Olympic marksman would have been proud. And after being beaten so emphatically the first time the West Ham goalkeeper decided to cover the left post for Baines second free kick. Baines’ reply, well if the keeper is standing to the left; he just aimed the ball to the right, and in it sailed again.